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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Generic "Got Melky" Title

It is funny that a player that has long been a potential target for the Royals can go to the Braves and then lose all appeal whatsoever. When Moore took over for Baird in 2006, he made a flurry of moves and many fans were excited by a rumor that stated a deal was in place to send Reggie Sanders to New York in exchange for Melky Cabrerra. The deal soon fell through due to a Reggie Sanders injury.

Melky is a twenty-six year old outfielder that can play all three outfield spots at an average level. He can't really hit enough to be a regular outfielder on an average team, but on a team like the 2011 Royals he offers improvement. Like Francouer Melky is on the good side of the aging curve and he offers some projection moving forward.

It's just a one year stopgap, but for just $1.25 million. It seems to be a team friendly deal. Just like with Podsednik and Ankiel a year ago, Francouer and Cabrerra ideally play at a decent level for the first few months of a season and then the Royals will have a couple of appealing chips at the deadline. Not a bad deal considering the state of the Royals heading into the 2011 season.

PS. Not to mention that Dyson will now be granted to the opportunity to prove that he can hit before he is giving a starting centerfield job at the Major League level. If Royals fans are seriously mad about these latest signing because it means that Dyson will probably start in triple A, consider this: .688. That's Dyson's career minor league OPS. Keep in mind that he has been old for his level at every stop and that he has only played in 116 games in the upper minors.

People can complain all they want but what other choice did Moore have. Better players won't sign here until we have a team that has a chance to compete. And putting all your eggs in the Dyson/Lough basket would probably have led to a very frustrating first couple of months at least. Give them more at bats in AAA, and if they're outplaying the guys in the bigs then they'll probly get their chance in the second half of the season.

You are exactly right Nelly, Dyson and Lough need to prove themselves at triple A before they are handing jobs at the Major League level. It is much better to be a little too late bringing a guy up then a little too early.

I think that out of the free agent options Moore had he probably made the right choice on which two guys to sign.